Holiday Treat Exchange

This week we had our 10th Annual Holiday Treat Exchange here at Envelopments. It’s a super fun tradition and we are always upping the bar from the year before. With Deborah leading the Design Department, creative packaging becomes almost as important as the treats inside. From old school Chex Party Mix to Momofuku Milk Bar Cookies, there is never an undesirable contribution. #saditsover and #alreadyplanningnextyearsrecipes.

Christmas Tree Brownies
Ingredients:
Box of Brownies
Chocolate Chips
10 Candy Canes
Candy Decorations (I used green frosting, M&M’s and dots)

Directions:
1. Make the batter for your brownies, add chocolate chips, and bake. Once they have cooled, cut them into a Christmas tree shape.
2. Use the straight part of a candy cane as the tree stem, and decorate as desired.

Lemon Cheesecake Cheese Ball
Ingredients:
10 oz. cream cheese
2½ tbsp. sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon
4 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 graham crackers

Directions: (I used my KitchenAid with a dough hook in batches of 4)
1. Combine the cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir together with a spoon or spatula until well combined and smooth. Mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball, wrapped tightly. Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. Reshape if necessary once firm.
2. Coarsely crush the graham crackers and transfer the crumbs to a plate or bowl. Roll the cheese ball in the crumbs until evenly coated.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mom’s Chex Mix
Ingredients (Combine these in a big bowl):
3 cups wheat Chex (or “square wheat cereal” if you want to get around the using of a trademarked name thing)
3 cups corn Chex
3 cups rice Chex
3 cups “O” cereal
1 cup pretzel sticks or squares (or more if you like)
1 ½ cups fancy mixed nuts without peanuts

Ingredients (Stir together):
1 cube melted butter
¼ tsp powdered onion
¼ tsp powdered garlic
1 ¼ tsp seasoned salt
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
1. Stir the melted butter mixture over the dry ingredients stirring constantly. Pour onto two deep cookie sheets/jelly roll pan
2. Bake for 1 ½ hours at 250. Stir every 15 minutes. Cool. Store in air-tight containers.

Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients:
Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.
3. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Grandma’s Rocky Road Fudge
Ingredients:
Butter
12 Ounces – Semi Sweet Chocolate Pieces
1 Cup – Chunky Peanut Butter
4 Cups – Mini Marshmallows

Directions:
1. Generously grease a 9X13 pan with butter.
2. Melt chocolate and peanut butter in a double boiler. When mixture is cohesive, fold in marshmallows and pour into prepared pan.
3. Refrigerate until fudge is set.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of salt
2 cups of light brown sugar
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
1 cup of macademia nuts
2 cups of white chocolate chips
1 cup of butter
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl mix baking soda, flour and salt.
3. In a seperate large bowl cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and stir the vanilla extract.
4. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt with the cream mixture of butter, brown sugar and white sugar.
5. Mix macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Gooey Caramel Butterscotch Cashew Bars
Ingredients:
1 (17.5 Ounces) – Pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 (3.4 Ounce) – Box Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix
1/2 Cup – Butter, Softened
1 – Large Egg
14 Ounces – Caramel Candies, Unwrapped
1/2 Cup – Canned Evaporated Milk
2 Cups – Lightly Salted Roasted Cashews
1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract
1 Cup – Butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 9X13 inch pan with aluminum foil extending over each end a couple inches.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar cookie mix, pudding mix, butter and egg. Press mixture into prepared baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until set.
4. In a large saucepan, combine caramels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in cashews and vanilla. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips.
4. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.

Momofuku Compost Cookies
Ingredients:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons glucose
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini butterscotch chips
1/4 recipe/1/2 cup Graham Cracker Crust (Recipe to Follow)
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 teaspoons ground coffee
2 cups potato chips
1 cup mini pretzels

GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 milk powder
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the butter, sugars, and glucose in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

2. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk over mixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

3. Still on low speed, add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham crust, oats, and coffee and mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the potato chips and pretzels and paddle, still on low speed, until just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix or break too many of the pretzels or potato chips.

4. Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3-cup measure), portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature – they will not bake properly.

5. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment or silicone baking mat-lined sheet pans. Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. After 18 minutes, they should be very faintly browned on the edges yet still bright yellow in the center. Give them an extra minute or so if that’s not the case.

6. Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or an airtight container for storage. At room temperature, cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

7. (Can use premade graham crackers if desired.) Toss the graham crumbs, milk powder, sugar, and salt with your hands in a medium bowl to evenly distribute your dry ingredients.

8. Whisk the butter and heavy cream together. Add to the dry ingredients and toss again to evenly distribute. The butter will act as a glue, adhering to the dry ingredients and turning the mixture into a bunch of small clusters. The mixture should hold its shape if squeezed tightly in the palm of your hand. If it is not moist enough to do so, melt an additional tablespoon of butter and mix it in.

9. Eat immediately, or deploy as directed in a recipe. The crust is easiest to mold just after mixing. Stored in an airtight container, graham crust will keep fresh for 1 week at room temperature or for 1 month in the fridge or freezer.